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My first trip to Cape Town was in 2009. A friend and I
needed to get visas from the American Embassy. We made it to Westlake with the
help of a friend and when we were granted permission to enter USA we decided to
find our way around Cape Town by using public transport. We took a taxi from
Westlake and got off in Retreat. From Retreat train station we headed for the
southern suburbs where we would get off in Rondebosch to meet a friend at the
University of Cape Town.
This was my first encounter with Cape Town’s public transport
system. When we used the taxi in Retreat people weren’t shocked that a white
person (the friend I was travelling with) used public transport. Neither of us
knew where we were going but fortunately I speak isiXhosa and Afrikaans and we
managed to get where we were going with ease. The train trip was the most
interesting.
It was quiet. It was a mid-morning train after the hustle
and bustle of rush hour with people getting to work. I was confused by the
silence.…

Third term is almost over. It’s been a crazy term with
school camps, debating competitions, hosting the Open Book Festival at our
school, disciplinary hearings (I wasn’t involved), interpersonal challenges
with staff members, failed tests and assignments, performances of Macbeth with bursting flames in the
school hall and endless shouting monologues addressed to teenagers (who don’t
listen to crazy teachers anyway) and good doses of laughter some of the time.
Third term is a trying term. It’s the most exhausting for
everyone, teachers and pupils alike. It’s my least favourite term. The kids
struggle with understanding why they should care about learning when there are
no exams. The momentum and interest in work lags and teaching is like sucking
blood out of a stone. And not to mention all the marking that still needs to
happen.
In the efforts of infusing some excitement in the kids,
school camps have been the remedy. The Grade 10s had a leadership camp and the
Grade 9 girls had a thr…